The Performance

Since I don’t have any GTX275 around, I believe the closet comparison would be to the HD4890 card.

World In Conflict

Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050

Card

Average

MSI N260GTX

39

Gigabyte Radeon HD4890

35

Company Of Heroes : Opposing Fronts

Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050

Card

Average

MSI N260GTX

54.1

Gigabyte Radeon HD4890

55.9

Lost Planet : Extreme Condition

Graphic Detail : Maximum at 1680 x 946

Card

Snow (Average)

Cave (Average)

MSI N260GTX

67.9

67.8

Gigabyte Radeon HD4890

64.6

60.6

Crysis

Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050

Card

Average

MSI N260GTX

18.47

Gigabyte Radeon HD4890

22.21

H.A.W.X.

Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050, not using DX10.1 for mode.

Card

Average

MSI N260GTX

54

Gigabyte Radeon HD4890

52

Furmark

Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050

Card

Average

MSI N260GTX

13

Gigabyte Radeon HD4890

42

Operating Temperature

Furmark was used for graphic card stressing.

Card

Idle (Â°C)

Load (Â°C)

Stress (Â°C)

MSI N260GTX

43

52

68

Readings were taken when ambient temperature was around 23Â°C.

– Load, Furmark was run for 1 minute at 1680×1050 with 4xAA.
– Stress, Furmark was run under the Stress Test mode for 5 minutes.

Great temperature I must say, the customized heatsink is certainly worth the value.

Power Consumption

Please note that the numbers below indicate the wattage for the entire system, not the graphic card alone.

System Power Consumption

Idle (w)

Load (w)

MSI N260GTX

68

184

Readings taken with Gigabyte’s P-Tuner software.

Other Matters

Unlike the other articles, the MSI N260GTX review would be pointless if we missed the the goodies that come with the LIGHTNING!

First up – the AirForce Panel. I have no idea why it’s called AirForce panel, like whether it’s designed based on any particular component used in any AirForce.

Regardless, here’s the AirForce Panel in action. Take note of my annotations.

As you can see – it’s flimsy. The panel itself is great but the mounting was awful. 1 center piece to hold a panel? I thought the idea was good but it certainly doesn’t look “airforce” or “military” here. It’s touch-sensitive nature is not all that sensitive either, it’s difficult to know where you’re touching either since it’s all flat.. 🙁 The semi-transparent screws MSI are tricky to keep track too, misplace it and it’s difficult to find.

And next, let’s have a look at the overclocking software – again, another good idea BUT it fades off too quickly. And to get that thing showing again, I had to press the panel and a few seconds later – it goes off again. I don’t recall any option was available to disable the FADE AWAY but it sure is annoying.

And lastly (just for fun) – a video showing how the panel could allow you to control screen brightness and contrast, which I think is pointless since people would have already done that via their monitor when they first purchased it.

Conclusion

The card itself is good, as you can see it stacks up very well against even the HD4890 which his supposedly to be GTX275 class.

As for the accessories – great ideas with bad implementation. 🙂 Seriously, I couldn’t care if the panel was removable. I’d rather they made it “hold still” to the 5.25″ bay itself to be sturdy enough so I could at least touch it properly.